Source · Select Committees · Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee
Recommendation 10
10
Acknowledged
Require local authorities to report quarterly on out-of-area placements and publish H-CLIC data.
Recommendation
The Government must improve the quality of data on local authorities’ use of out-of-area placements. It should require all local authorities to report to the Department quarterly on instances of out-of-area placements as part of their H-CLIC data report, including the distance of placements, why out-of-area placements were used, and the type of accommodation used for households placed out-of-area. The Department should consider ways of making H-CLIC data more publicly accessible, such as through an 45 online homelessness data dashboard, to support local authorities to better understand homelessness pressures in their area, and to improve public awareness. (Recommendation, Paragraph 61)
Government Response Summary
The government highlighted the potential of data linking and stated it is working across departments on programs like ECHILD and BOLD, exploring how these platforms could offer short-term solutions for linking temporary accommodation and pupil data, but did not commit to specific H-CLIC reporting or a public dashboard.
Government Response
Acknowledged
HM Government
Acknowledged
30. The linking of data holds significant potential for the wider public sector. Improved data linking would enable more effective government policy, drive world-class research, facilitate joined-up public services and support the delivery of wider government missions, for example tackling child poverty and tackling homelessness. 31. We are working closely across the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), the Department for Health and Social Care and the Department for Education on data linking programmes such as Education and Child Health Insights from Linked Data (ECHILD) and Better Outcomes through Linked Data (BOLD) and will be exploring how these platforms could offer short-term solutions around linking temporary accommodation and Pupil Data. 32. MHCLG has recently published a report setting out findings from the BOLD project. The ‘Repeat Homelessness’ report can be found here: Better Outcomes through Linked Data: Repeat homelessness report - GOV.UK. The Government’s strategy to end homelessness